Outdated concepts for Google's 'Shortwave' podcast app leak

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A few weeks ago, Google confirmed its Area 120 startup incubator is working on a podcast app called Shortwave. It told The Verge at the time that it "helps users discover and consume spoken-word audio in new ways" but didn't get specific about how. Now 9to5Google has posted some related "design experiments" that portray an app focused on surfacing small segments from within longer podcast episodes.

While there's a "long story short" slogan mentioned among them, it doesn't dig into how it would find this "fascinating, compelling, giggle-inducing content" or distribute it. Perhaps that's just as well, as Google has responded to the find and said "The language here is a long-outdated artifact of early exploratory concept work, and not representative of the product now...the Shortwave team has long "waved" goodbye to this approach."

Google has of course rolled out its own podcast app, but in coming so late to the game perhaps it could use another angle. There are so many podcasts out there that keeping up with them all and finding good news ones is tough, if "Shortwave" arrives with features that are anything like this, maybe it could help gain traction against Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other giants in the space.

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